Quick Circle Quilt

I love circle quilts but I don't love the hassle of cutting and ironing on interfacing, so with that in mind I decided to skip that step.  Hence the quick and dirty.  I am in love with the colors on this quilt.  This pattern is so easy, you can make it in a day. Finished quilt measures approx 36" x 46"

Supplies
1/4 yard of 5 or 6 different coordinating fabrics, cut into 5" circles, 30 circles total
1/2 Yard of Fabric for Framing, Cut 2, 2" strips for the sides, Cut 2 4" strips for the top and bottom
2 Yards White Fabric
1 1/4 Yard Fabric for Backing
1/2 Yard Fabric for Binding
1 1/4 Yards of Batting
1 Circle Cutter, I used an Olfa Rotary Circle Cutter.  (You don't have to have this but it makes life so much easier)
                                                                  Cut out your 30 circles

                                             I also love this rotating mat for cutting my circles

Next cut your white squares. Your will need 30, 7" squares

Lay your circles in the center of your white squares and sew around the outside edge with a zig zag stitch.

Here are the completed circles, they are so pretty!

Next lay out your blocks in rows of 5.  You will have 6 rows of 5 blocks. Sew Row with 1/4" seam

Next add your framing, sew the 2" strips to the sides, then sew the 4" strips to the top and bottom.

Next add your backing and batting, then sew your binding and your Quilt is complete.

Here is a photo of the completed quilt after I have washed it.

Burp Cloths - Burpee Pattern

Need a cute Baby Shower Gift?  Having a new baby?  Make these cute Burp Cloths!  They are so nice and soft for burping baby and easy to make!

Supplies to make 2 Rag Burp Cloths:

Fabric #1 - ¼ Yard of a cute patterned flannel fabric

Fabric #2 - ¼ Yard of Minky or a coordinating flannel fabric

Fabric #3 - ¼ Yard of White Flannel (for the middle layer) You can use a colored flannel for the middle layer if you wish.

Rotary Cutter

Fabric Ruler

Cutting Mat

Sharp Scissors or Quilt Snips

Begin:

Cut 4, 9” squares of Fabric #1

Cut 4, 9” squares of Fabric #2

Cut 4, 9” squares of Fabric #3

To make your first Burp Cloth, make a sandwich with 2 pieces of patterned fabric (#1) and one piece of Flannel (fabric #3). Put the white flannel square in the middle of the two patterned pieces. Make sure the good sides are showing on each side. Then do the same with fabric #2. The picture below shows the layering. Pin in place.

Sew diagonally from the top point to the bottom point on each side of the fabric squares. So you will have a big X across each square.

Next take ONE of the squares and cut it exactly in half. This will give you two rectangles.

Now take the rectangles and place them on top of you uncut square, and pin in place. Sew the right edge with a ½” seam line. Then turn and sew the left edge. With a 1/2” seam line. (do not sew the top and bottom edges)

Open the cloth it will be flat on the back side and will show both seams on the front side. Sew a ¾” around the outside edge, this will lock the seams. Don't worry if your edges are not perfect, you can even them out later.

Next take your sharp scissors or quilt snips and snip next to the area where the seam is sewn down, snip on each side to free up the seams, then snip the seams 1/8” to ¼” apart all the way across being careful not to cut through your sewing, this creates the ragging effect. Next snip the entire outside edge. If you accidentally cut through your seam line just sew back over it.

Complete the other burp cloth in the same manner. Before you use your cloths wash them in warm soapy water with some fabric softener, this makes the fraying, ragging effect. Tumble Dry.

When you remove your burp cloths from the dryer they may have lots of loose and tangled threads. Just trim the loose threads away and trim any uneven edges. Your burp cloths are now ready to use.

I Spy Quilt

I saw the cutest idea for a quilt online, called an "I Spy Quilt".  It is so fun!  A great idea for a young child who is just learning words! 

You need a lot of fabric scraps with interesting pictures on them in order to make this quilt.  I happen to have a bucket full of scraps leftover from all my rag quilt cutting.  So here is my version of the "I Spy Quilt".  I think it is better to make a smaller quilt for this project as it is more of a plaything than an actual "keep me warm" quilt. This quilt measures 36" x 22".

Materials you will need:
1 1/2  yards of solid fabric (for squares)
1 1/2 yards of fabric for backing
1/2 yard of  fabric for binding
1 small bag of batting
Lots of fabric scraps with interesting, fun things on them.

First I cut my rectangles 8 x 12

Then organize your scraps into 9 piles (one pile for each square) of complimentary fabrics.

I picked one fabric from each pile that I wanted to build the rectangle around.  Cut that piece a little bigger and place it on the rectangle.  Cut your other fabrics to fit into the rest of the rectangle.  Leave a 1 inch border around each rectangle.  This is my first Square!

Pin everything and sew it in place with a zig zag stitch along the raw edge.    I used a pink thread for this square. For a more finished look you can fold under the raw edges and iron in place then sew with the zig zag stitch.  Some of the fabrics look cute with a square placed on top of them.

Make 9 Rectangles this way then lay them out.

Sew the blocks together in rows of three using a 1/4" seam.  Then sew the rows together.
Add batting and binding.  For this quilt I did a simple zig zag in the ditch to hold everything together.  Your I Spy quilt is done!

This was a fun project and only took 1 day to make.  I think my granddaughter will like it.

Puppy Dog Problems

I have a Dog, his name is Bruiser.  Bruiser likes to mark on all my nice things. Anything carpeted is a big draw. I tried letting him out of the house more often, scolding him and even neutering him.  Nothing worked.  I decided I had to confine him in the kitchen area where we have no carpet for him to pee on.  But its sad for him to be separated from us and so, I began my search for a device, spray or alarm, anything to stop him from marking.  I searched the Internet for anything that might help.  I found a site selling a ace bandage type thing that you wrap around your dog to keep him from marking.  I thought that might work for us so I bought a couple.  And they did kinda work.  The problem was I was forced to wrap a long piece of material around and around and around my wiggly dog and then try to secure the thing.  I figured there must be a better way.  I experimented with a few materials and came up with my WeeWrap.  The WeeWrap is made with absorbent fleece on the inside and cute cotton material on the outside. I use Velcro to secure the ends and suggest the use of a feminine pad for dogs who still try to pee with the wrap on.  I also embroider the wrap with the dogs name. I make them in several sizes to fit almost any dog.  Everyone really likes them.  Here is little Bruiser wearing his WeeWrap.  Now he can join us in the living room and I don't have to worry about a mess to clean up.

Bruiser doesn't like to model very well so I bought Porkchop to help out!  He truly is the perfect dog.

Setting up My Etsy Shop++

Overloaded with quilts, I finally took the plunge and signed up for an Etsy shop.  I found the Etsy site very easy to use and it was really easy to set up my shop.  I did, however make a couple of  mistakes.  I didn't realize that my user name would be my shop name. I thought there would be a user name and then a separate shop name.  So, I put in my user name as beffie48 intending to think up a cute name after I got the shop set up.  I don't know if I just didn't read the instructions very well or if Etsy isn't very clear on this point, but anyway once you choose your user name you are stuck with it.  You can open a new shop with a different name, but once you have gotten some business and have some people who are giving your shop hearts you don't really want to set up a new shop from scratch. 
My second mistake was to put a different name for my shop on my banner.  My user name was beffie48 but I wanted my shop to be called Keiki Baby.  So I put Keiki Baby on the banner.  I didn't realize for several months that this is confusing to shoppers.  First of all it makes it hard for them to find you by your shop name.  Etsy stores your user name as your shop name so if a customer searched for my shop name as Keiki Baby nothing would show up on Etsy.  They would only be able to find my shop name by searching for beffie48.  I also found out the its is helpful to put your shop name in the tag area of some of your items. That way if someone does a search for your shop and they haven't selected "shop" in the drop down search box at Etsy, your shop will still come up. 
I opened my shop put my quilts up for sale and waited.  While I waited I started reading the "help" newsletters that Etsy sends out to you.  They are very helpful and I learned many important things from them.  The first I already shared with you, your user name and your shop name need to be the same.  I went into my shop and changed my shop name to match my user name.  I found a free banner for my shop and put that up until I could figure out how to make one myself.  I also started looking around Etsy to see exactly what types of items were selling well.  You can use Etsy's  "pounce" search to see recently sold items.
In those first couple of months I only sold a couple of quilts.  I felt a little frustrated,  was the price too high?  Did people not like them? Were they able to find my quilts in the vast ocean of Etsy shops?  Was my postage charge too high?  Was there a better, less expensive way to ship my items?

Too Many Quilts

After I got started making quilts I found it hard to stop.  I was on the internet looking a fabrics all the time.  I became familiar with some of the the names of the most popular fabric designers.  Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Michael Miller, Heather Ross and Riley Blake are some of my favorites.  I made several rag quilts with their fabrics and some rag style burp cloths. The burp cloths were great, so much nicer than a ratty old diaper.  My daughter really liked them too.  I'll post instructions in a later blog.
But how many quilts can you make and give to one grandchild?   I realized that I had made more quilts then my new grandchild would ever be able to use.  I still gave her 5 or 6 then started giving them away to friends with babies.  Still I wanted to make more quilts!  I went back to Etsy and found allot of people selling quilts.  I wondered if maybe someone might want to buy my quilts, well it was worth a try.  Etsy doesn't change anything to set up an account, there is a small .20 cent listing fee for each item.  And a fee if the item sells. It was easy to set up.  I added a PayPal account to make collecting money simple and I was off!  I put listings up for several quilts and waited.......I experimented with lowering my prices, raising my prices and taking different photos.  By the way quilts are quite challenging to photograph.  I think I only had 5 or 6 items for sale at the start.  I kept waiting and still no sales. Finally after about a month I sold a quilt.  Hum, I don't think selling one quilt a month is going to make me much money.  So, I decided to make some burp cloths and try to sell them, not much success with that idea either.  I thought maybe a larger selection of quilts and other items would help, but that didn't seem to do the trick. I experimented with several hand sewn items, still no increase in sales.  Then one day I saw an article about selling on Etsy.  I think it was a Etsy Success article.  The woman wrote that she had very little success selling her pillow case dresses but lots of success selling a diy pillow case dress kit.  I thought that might work for me. I know many of the people who are interested in Etsy shopping are interested in making things themselves.   I decided to make a Rag Quilt Kit to sell online. It took me some time to figure out how much fabric, what size squares and what to charge in order to make a small profit, but I immediately started selling several kits a month.  And I love reading the comments that I get from people who buy my kits.  I still make and sell quilts on my site but the majority of what I sell now is quilt kits.  After a few months of selling kits I decided to buy an embroidery machine.  I thought it might increase my sale if I could personalize the quilt kit for my customers.  I offer free embroidery with each kit.  Everyone really likes the embroidery and it makes such a nice personal gift.

Lets Make a Rag Quilt

I started googling quilt photos and found some really cute quilts called Rag Quilts.  I decided for my next project that I would try that style. I had a lot of the Heather Bailey fabric left over from the first quilt.  I found some instructions and began.  Rag Quilts are really easy to make and they come out so cute!   If you have never made a quilt before and want to start with something simple then I really encourage you to try a rag quilt.  Here is a picture of the first one that I made.

This particular quilt is cotton fabric on both sides and flannel fabric in the middle.  I have changed the way I make my rag quilts now and just use the cotton patterned fabric on the top of the quilt and flannel fabric on the back and in the middle.  Here is the pattern for a rag quilt.  If you don't want to cut the pieces yourself visit my etsy site.  I sell Rag Quilt kits.  All the cutting is done for you, all you have to do is sew them together.

Rag Quilt Instructions from http://www.etsy.com/shop/beffie48

These are instructions to make a rag quilt. Finished size is 36”x 32'. If you wish to make a larger size just add additional squares of material.

Supplies:

1 pair of sharp Scissors or Spring loaded Scissors

1 Rotary Cutter (45 mm works fine)

1 Cutting Mat

1 Cutting Ruler
Rag Quilt Snippers (optional)

My favorite rag quilt scissors are Tonic Studios 404 6-1/2-Inch Spring Cut Scissors. They are around $12-$14.00 and well worth it. You can keep them nice and sharp with a cheap scissor sharpener. I have tried a lot of scissors and haven't found a pair that works better.

5 different fabrics that compliment each other. You will need 1/2 Yard of each fabric. For the backing and the batting I use flannel you can use any color, but make sure it goes with your material because it will show at the ragged area of the quilt. I usually use white. You will need 1 1/4 yards of flannel.

Thread (I use white, but you can use any color that goes with your fabric)

Iron your material before cutting. Cut all material into 9” squares using your rotary cutter. You will need 40 squares of fabric and 20 squares of flannel.

First make a sandwich: **
Take two matching pieces of your patterned fabric and put a flannel square between the two squares. Make sure the “good” side of the patterned material is showing on both sides of the square. Line up the material evenly on all sides. Pin in place.   Sew diagonally across the square from the top point of each corner to the bottom point of each corner, so you have a big X across the entire square of fabric. (use any color thread you like, I use white).  Do this with all your squares.  You will end up with 20, 3 layer squares of fabric. Don't worry if your squares are not perfectly straight on each edge. This quilt pattern is very forgiving.

Lay out the squares in rows of 5 so they look nice to you. You will have 4 rows of 5 squares.

Next you are going to sew a row of 5 squares together. Match the good sides together so the seams show, pin, sew using a 1/2 seam allowance.  The quilt will be flat on the back side and show all the unfinished seam allowances on the front side. Make sure that all your seam allowances are showing on one side and flat on the other. Sew your first two squares together, add the third, then fourth etc till have a row of 5 squares completed. Sew your next row, continue till you have made all 4 rows. Try to keep your rows in the order you originally placed them.

Now start sewing your rows of squares together. Line up two rows at the intersection of each square, pin, then sew the rows together, use a ½ seam allowance. Add another row and repeat the process till you have all your rows sewn together with the unfinished seam allowances showing on the front side of the quilt. 

Once you have the rows all sewn together sew a 1/2 stitch all the way around the outside of the quilt. This will lock the seams. Your quilt should look flat on the back and all unfinished seams will be showing on the front.

Now you are ready to snip your quilt.  I use spring loaded scissors as they are easier on my hands. But any really sharp scissors are fine.
Snip your seam allowances to the stitching (not past) about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch apart (the smaller the snipping the more ragged your quilt will be).  Do all the seams and then snip all the way around the outside.  I also cut the corners out. This process will take you quit a while, I usually do my snipping while watching T.V.   When you are finished you are ready to wash the quilt, washing & drying is what makes the nice frayed look.

Machine wash the quilt in cold or warm soapy water, use fabric softener if you have it.   Tumble Dry, Med heat, in the dryer. (make sure to check your lint trap several times) Remove your quilt from the dryer and look over the quilt, it will be a mess with lots of loose threads and knots everywhere. Don't worry this is normal. Use your scissors to snip the messy knotted threads away and fix any uneven areas. Look for any seams you missed snipping the first time.  You can then wash and dry one more time.  Check for loose threads one more time and your done!  Your quilt will fray with each wash and just get better and better!

If you accidentally snip through a seam just go back over that area with your sewing machine.

If you have any problems or questions please feel free to convo me at my etsy website.

Have Fun!

Beth